FALLOUT 76: INSIDE THE VAULT - JANUARY 24, 2019
In last week’s Inside the Vault, we briefly mentioned a new, more dangerous mode, which is separate from the main game and has fewer restrictions on player-versus-player (PVP) experiences, will be coming to Fallout 76 in a future update. We’ve dubbed this new mode “Survival” and we’re excited to share a few more details with you today. Additionally, we’d also like to give you a little more information on our next major patch.

A NEW, MORE DANGEROUS GAME MODE: SURVIVAL (BETA)

Since the launch of Fallout 76, we’ve received lots of feedback from some of our more competitive players who requested greater challenge, fewer restrictions, and more incentives when it comes to PVP combat. With this in mind, we began developing Survival mode, which will bring a new way for you to engage in even more demanding, high-stakes, and deadly adventures in Fallout 76. We’re still hard at work on this mode internally and plan to bring it to the live game in phases as we add more content and features over time. Here’s a preview of what you can expect from Survival when phase 1 opens for beta testing.

A NEW WAY TO PLAY

After hitting Play from the Main Menu, you’ll be able to choose whether you’d like to play Adventure mode, which is Fallout 76 as you know it today, or the new Survival mode. The same quests, events, and story that you’re used to in Adventure mode will all remain available in Survival, but you’ll have to navigate them under the ever-looming threat of hostile dwellers who may be hiding just around the corner.

You’re free to create new characters for Survival mode, and encouraged to do so, but you can also use your existing ones. If you do take on Survival mode with an existing character, keep in mind that all your progress from Adventure mode will travel with you, and anything that affects your character in one game mode will also affect them in the other. This means that if you fire off all your ammo, level up, complete a quest, spend Caps, or find a fancy new weapon in Survival, this will also be reflected on that character in Adventure. If you’d rather keep your existing characters as they are, we recommend starting a new one when you head into the more challenging Survival mode.

STRANGER DANGER
Survival mode is not for the faint of heart! All players, except your teammates or event groupmates, are automatically flagged as hostile toward one another by default. There are no “invitations” to PVP combat in Survival mode. You can attack other players without restriction from the first shot you line up, meaning every encounter you have with a stranger could turn deadly in the blink of an eye.

Further, level scaling in Survival mode will work the same way it does in Adventure mode today. This will help to level the playing field a bit and give newer characters a fighting chance against high-level players they might encounter during their adventures in the Wasteland. As a result, you’ll need to keep your wits about you during every hostile encounter, because even low-level characters can pose a real threat.

GREATER RISKS, GREATER REWARDS
As this will be our first implementation of a Survival mode, we plan to experiment with different rules after Beta release, such as death mechanics. Currently, players who die in Survival mode will be unable to use the seek revenge respawn option against their aggressors and can only choose to respawn at their C.A.M.P. or Vault 76. We’re also planning to award you double the Caps when you kill another player, and they may drop their Aid or other items in addition to their Junk. Added risks and rewards like these in Survival mode PVP will make each of your deaths more devastating, and every kill you rack up much more lucrative. However, it’s important to note that these changes aren’t set in stone, and we’ll be looking to make adjustments based on playtesting and your feedback during the Survival Beta.

It’s also worth noting that players who are currently in Adventure mode worlds are completely separate from those in Survival mode, so you won’t need to worry about Survival players coming for your Aid items or double Cap rewards when you’re in Adventure mode.

LEADERBOARDS
For those of you who are focused on the new mode’s more competitive aspects, we’re also planning to roll out in-game leaderboards with the start of Survival mode (Beta). You’ll be able to see how you stack up against your friends and others in your current world, so you’ll need to stay sharp if you want to stay on top. We’ll have much more to share about leaderboards and all of the stats you’ll be able to keep tabs on during each play session as we get closer to the Survival Beta.

Looking further ahead, we’re going to continue to evolve, improve, and add content to Survival mode with future updates throughout this year and your feedback will incredibly helpful as we make it the most fun and challenging Fallout PVP experience we can. Our hope is to roll out the Survival Beta in March. However, we still have a lot more work to do on Leaderboards and other features and may need more development time for testing. Stay tuned for more information on the exact timing, and an even more in-depth look at Survival mode as we get closer to release.

PATCH 5 DETAILS
We’re still targeting the end of January for the release of Patch 5. In addition to the changes we previewed in the last Inside the Vault, we’re pleased to share that we’re swatting another massive round of bugs with this patch, and implementing a number of changes based on feedback that players like you have shared with us on the forums, reddit, and social media, including:

Hotkey improvements for AZERTY keyboard layouts, which should help French-speaking players have an easier time when constructing their C.A.M.P.s.

A “(Known)” tag will now appear next to recipes and plans you’ve already learned in Vendor and player inventories, and trade menus.

The Traveling Pharmacy Perk will now correctly reduce the weight of RadAway and other Chems.

Early Warnings quest progress will no longer become stuck when crafting Upgraded Motors, and logging out after crafting Upgraded Motors will no longer reset the quest tracker to 0/5.

And much more!
Additionally, we’re continuing to investigate, track down, and eliminate exploits, and your reports on these types of issues are a huge help in quickly bringing them to our attention as they spring up. Once again, if you think you’ve found an exploit, or observed another player using an exploit, please let our Support team know by submitting a ticket, and include any steps that may help reliably reproduce the issue.

IN-GAME EVENTS FEEDBACK
Finally, please be sure to stop by our forum thread for Events feedback to share your experiences with in-game events and answer a few questions about which you enjoy the most, which you enjoy the least, what types of events you’d like to see added to the game, and more. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will go a long way toward helping us shape and improve events going forward.

FALLOUT 76: PATCH NOTES – JANUARY 29, 2019
Patch 5 is rolling out today with a number of balance and design changes along with another large wave of bug fixes. All of this is possible thanks to your continued support and feedback on the game.

As the game evolves, so do our patch notes. With Patch 4 a few weeks ago, we added “Dev Notes” under some of our larger changes. We’ve done this to provide you with more context behind things like balance and design changes. We will also tackle additional questions as they come in and we’ll update this article as needed. Additionally, we’ve been working on a known issues post that we plan to keep updated as we fix existing bugs, acknowledge and address any new issues that arise, and roll out changes to the game based on you feedback.

Now, let’s take a look at the updates coming with Patch 5.

PATCH VERSION:
Download sizes for today’s patch will be approximately 3.5 GB for consoles, and around 500 MB for PC.

PC: 1.0.5.10
PS4: 1.0.5.9
Xbox: 1.0.5.7

GENERAL
Performance: Several additional improvements have been made to in-game performance.

Stability: The Fallout 76 game client and servers have received additional stability improvements.

BALANCE CHANGES
Perks: The damage bonuses provided by each rank of the Demolition Expert perk have been reduced from +20%/40%/60%/80%/100% to +20%/30%/40%/50%/60% to match other weapon perk damage bonuses.

Perks: The condition loss bonuses provided by each rank of the White Knight and Licensed Plumber perks have been reduced from 30%/60%/90% to 20%/40%/60%, and their repair bonuses have also been reduced, to match the Power Patcher perk.

Dev Note: In looking at the Demolition Expert, White Knight, and Licensed Plumber perks, we felt they have so far been overperforming in their current roles, and we wanted to bring them more in line with similar perks to help prevent them from feeling like mandatory picks.

Weapons: The Explosive legendary mod’s damage bonus has been reduced from +100% to +20% of base weapon damage, with explosive radius damage.

Weapons: The Two Shot legendary effect’s damage bonus has been reduced from +100% to +25% of base weapon damage.

Dev Note: As mentioned in a previous Inside the Vault article, both the explosive mod and two shot weapons could result in dealing very high amounts of damage, and this was compounded if two shot and explosive were combined. We’ve decided to tone both of these damage bonuses back.

Weapons: Flamers, Cryolators, plasma weapons, and laser weapons can no longer spawn with the Explosive legendary mod.
Dev Note: The explosive mod causes weapons to fire bullets that are . . . explosive. The weapons listed above don’t fire bullets, so we’ve temporarily removed the ability for them to spawn with that mod applied so we can make adjustments.

C.A.M.P., CRAFTING, AND WORKSHOPS
Scrapping: Loose weapon and armor mods are now protected from autoscrapping when crafting. However, they can still be scrapped manually if a player wants to break them down into scrap components.

Turrets: An “(Owned)” tag will now appear next to the names of Turrets a player has built in their C.A.M.P. or a workshop.

DESIGN AND GAMEPLAY
Carry Weight: Is now capped to an absolute limit of 1,500 pounds over the character’s current maximum carry weight.

Characters will be unable to exceed this new weight limit moving forward.

Characters who already exceed this limit will be unable to add any additional items or caps to their inventories until they have reduced their carry weight below the cap.

Dev Note: These limits exist primarily to keep servers from performing poorly, which can happen when we have too many items in the game world. They also play role in helping to regulate the in-game economy. We do recognize the desire to be able to own more of the cool items that we have in the game, and we are looking into a variety of solutions, including increasing the stash size. We will be sure to talk more about this when they are ready.

Cap Stashes: To help address cap exploits, caps stashes have been turned into containers, which allows them to properly reset and provide players with instanced loot.

Plans and Recipes: When viewing a plan or recipe in a menu, a “(Known)” tag will now appear next to the names of recipes and plans the player has already learned.

Vendors: Recipes and Plans in Vendor inventories are no longer randomized and can now be reliably sourced from those Vendors, with the exception of some minor Workshop and C.A.M.P. Plans.The appearance of many Plans and Recipes in Vendor inventories is based on player level and they will show up once the proper level has been reached.Additional structural Plans for wall sets, power connectors, doors, generators, and water purifiers have also been added to some Vendors
.PVP
Hunter/Hunted: A server-wide message will now appear when a player joins the Hunter/Hunted queue.
This message will only be displayed once per player to avoid spam.
An additional server-wide message will be displayed when Hunter/Hunted is ready to begin in order to give other players a final chance to join.

QUESTS AND EVENTS
Belly of the Beast: A new “Ultracite Power Armor” entry has been added to Taggerdy’s Terminal on the top floor of Fort Defiance, offering Ultracite Power Armor plans to those who read it.

First Contact: A new miscellaneous objective will now appear upon reaching the Overseer's C.A.M.P. for the first time, prompting the player to place a C.A.M.P. of their own.

Gauley Mine: A new miscellaneous objective will now appear at Gauley Mine to introduce players to Ore Deposits.

Monster Mash: The amount of XP awarded per round during this event has been reduced from 350 to 100.

BUG FIXESART AND GRAPHICS

Lighting: Lighting no longer flickers throughout Arktos Pharma.

Apparel: Fixed an issue that could cause a character’s legs to show through the Rose Dress while it is equipped.

C.A.M.P., CRAFTING, AND WORKSHOPS

Artillery: Fixed an issue that could prevent Artillery from being placed in valid locations.

Blueprints: Addressed an issue preventing players from placing a stored blueprint containing posts that were placed partially underground when the blueprint was originally saved.

Budget: Scrapping a stored blueprint that contained wires will now correctly remove those wires from the C.A.M.P. budget.

Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to duplicate their stored blueprints.

Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to reduce their carry weight to a negative value.

Foundations: Fixed an issue that could cause a “Cannot place item: Needs support” message to display when editing a partially floating foundation.

Power Armor Station: Players can no longer view power armor they do not own when attempting to access a power armor station that’s occupied by another player.

Scrapping: Ignition Cores crafted for the Earth Mover event are no longer automatically scrapped when using the Scrap All Junk option at a Workbench.

Scrapping: Junk items that need to be manually scrapped are no longer automatically scrapped for components when attempting to craft.

Stored Objects: Repeatedly attempting to place an Atomic Shop variant of an object the player had stored but does not own no longer prevents them from placing other variants.

Structures: Fixed an issue that could prevent a C.A.M.P. or workshop structure from being edited when building levels had been merged or split several times. This fix is not retroactive and will not apply to structures built prior to today’s patch.

Terminals: Powered terminals contained within a stored blueprint now work correctly when the blueprint is placed in a new location

CHALLENGES
Collect Holotape Games: Nuka Tapper sub-challenge can now be completed by playing the Nuka-Tapper holotape game.

Gather Building Supplies: The “Scrap items to produce fertilizer” condition has been updated to "Collect Fertilizer" and can be completed by salvaging or crafting it using spoiled fruits, vegetables, and meat.

Learn Cooking Recipes: This challenge will now recognize many additional cooking recipes when they are learned for the first time. Retroactive credit will not be awarded for recipes learned prior to today’s patch, but that is planned for a future update.

ENEMIES
A.I.: Fixed an issue in which some enemies could chase the player farther than intended and become frozen in place.

Exploit: Addressed several XP exploits by adding a limit to the maximum amount of XP granted by a single kill.

Looting: Fixed an issue that could prevent players from looting goo and ash piles after killing an enemy with a laser or plasma weapon.

GENERAL
Loading: Fixed several issues that could cause characters’ body parts, equipped apparel, or armor to become temporarily invisible to other nearby players or teammates after loading into a world.

Monorail Elevator: Fixed an issue that prevented the Monorail Elevator near the edge of Cranberry Bog from taking players to the top floor.

Performance: The Scorched Earth event has received optimization improvements.

Performance: On laptops with more than one graphics card, Fallout 76 will now default to using the dedicated graphics card rather than an integrated card.

Performance: Launching the Traditional or Simplified Chinese game clients on Xbox One no longer causes a 6 second hitch when the launch video begins to play.

ITEMS
Bobbleheads: Using multiple Explosive Bobbleheads no longer causes their effects to stack.

Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to duplicate items using MODUS Vendors.

Exploit: Addressed an exploit in which the Vampire legendary effect could restore health through unintended means.

Magazines: Removed magazines from several locations where they were unintentionally guaranteed to spawn.

Tomahawks: No longer become stuck in mid-air after striking a hostile creature or player.

Magazines: Guns and Bullets #5 now correctly provides bonus components when scrapping weapons, but no longer specifies a 50% increase.

Health Bonuses: A player with very low health who unequips an item that provides bonus health will no longer be instantly killed if removing that item that would cause their health to drop to or below 0.

Paper Bags: Fixed multiple issues in which transferring items into an empty paper bag as the bag was despawning caused those items to become lost.

Pip-Boy: Fixed a rare issue that could cause a character’s Pip-Boy to go missing.

Power Armor: Entering a suit of power armor no longer occasionally causes it to become invisible to nearby players.

PVP
Respawn: Fixed an issue that could prevent a player who was killed in water from correctly ending PVP upon respawning.

Stealth: Addressed an issue in which stealth damage bonuses could still be applied by a sneaking player’s attacks during PVP even that player was within their target’s direct line of sight.

Wanted: Fixed an issue that could cause the bounty amount for a Wanted player to appear halved on the map when approaching that player in the game world.

QUESTS AND EVENTS
Breach and Clear: The Meteoric Sword now correctly has a slim chance to spawn in containers during the Breach and Clear event.

Early Warnings: Quest progress will no longer become stuck when crafting Upgraded Motors and logging out after crafting Upgraded Motors will no longer reset the quest tracker to 0/5.

Events: Fixed an issue that could allow a player to simultaneously join two different events.

Events: Fast traveling after joining an event will now correctly remove the player from that event and will no longer prevent them from joining proximity event at their fast travel destination.

Flavors of Mayhem: Rose will no longer occasionally play unrelated voiceover lines when attempting to turn in Flavors of Mayhem, and the player is no longer prevented from correctly completing the quest.

Signal Strength: Fixed an issue that could prevent Rose’s introductory voiceover lines from playing when the player approaches Top of the World.

Second Helpings: An area marker will now appear for the “Find Delbert Winters in Flatwoods" objective to better inform players about their options for proceeding through the quest.

Hotkeys: While using a French AZERTY keyboard, the “/” key can now be properly rebound in the controls menu.

Loading Screens: Fixed an issue that could cause loading screens to appear cut off or black at different resolutions when entering a building’s interior.

Map: Character levels no longer appear truncated on the map for players over level 100.

Nameplates: Fixed an issue that prevented player nameplates from appearing while inside the nuke zone during the Scorched Earth event.

Nameplates: Fixed an issue that prevented the crown icon from displaying next to legendary enemy nameplates.

Social: On Xbox, after sending a friend request to another player a notification will now display to confirm that a friend request has been sent.

Social: The “Invite to Team” option no longer appears for players who have already joined the team.

Social: If an attempt to fast travel to a friend or teammate using the Social Menu fails due to nearby enemies the player will now be notified by an error message that states "You cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby".

Trading: Decreased the wait time required between trades when making multiple trades with another player. If players attempt to make multiple trades too quickly, a new "Trade failed due to frequency, wait a moment and try again." error message will now display rather than the previous “Trade Failed on Server” message.

Trading: Fixed an issue on PC that could cause the player’s cursor to appear on both sides of a trade menu at the same time.

Tutorials: New players will now receive a tutorial message informing them of the Change Appearance option in the Main Menu.

VATS: Now selects targets more consistently across different field of view (FOV) values. For example, VATS will no longer target enemies that are visible in peripheral vision at high FOV values, but would be off-screen at default FOV values. This fix will help prevent VATS from providing an advantage to players who use high FOV settings.

VATS: Fixed an issue that could cause the VATS interface to rapidly flicker on and off.

Voice Chat: Fixed an issue preventing the speaker icon from appearing to others while a player is speaking over voice chat.

Workshop Previews: The player’s current Atom balance no longer appears truncated when viewing an Atomic Shop item in the workshop preview at 16:10 and 21:9 resolutions.

hmm I should check to see if my explosive flamer is still there/what state it is in now...

I'm pleased the plans are fixed for levels etc, making an alt to get the handmade plans was pretty dumb

So they managed to mong up part of the patch and introduce a few extra bugs

bobby pins went back to 0.1 weight
bulk junk couldnt be used for crafting
known recepie flag went across characters (funnily enough the mod has the same bug hmm.....)
the "fix" for radworms disease now means every mutation/food buff its is also increased by 50% lol

We are aware that some issues were unintentionally introduced (and reintroduced) in Patch 5, including problems with Bulk Junk autoscrapping, Known Plan/Recipe tags in the UI, Bobby Pin weight to reverting back to 0.10 lb, and others. It appears that a merge of internal development builds failed to execute properly prior to releasing Patch 5. The team is working to identify how this happened so we can prevent this from repeating in the future.

We recognize that some of these issues, like the ones listed above, can critically affect your moment-to-moment gameplay. Because of that, we plan to issue a hotfix on these items as soon as possible. We are currently developing and testing the hotfix, and expect to deploy this update at either the end of this week or the beginning of next. As soon as we have a confirmed date, we will follow up.